Man wins laptop fight but is left with £250,000 bill

Richard Durkin returned his laptop PC World the day after buying it, but has since faced a 16-year legal fight (Picture: PA)

A shopper has blown hundreds of thousands of pounds on a 16-year legal fight over a laptop he bought from PC World.

Richard Durkin was awarded £8,000 after winning his dispute with HFC Bank, which lent him the money to buy the computer in 1998.

But he admitted he had been left heavily in debt after running up bills of about £250,000 on litigation.

‘I’ve got mixed feelings, I suppose,’ said the oil worker after the ruling at the Supreme Court in London. ‘I’m glad that I’ve helped the greater good with a consumer victory.’

Mr Durkin, who is in his 40s, returned the laptop to PC World the day after he bought it, having discovered the model had no internal modem.

But HFC insisted he had to keep making payments under the £1,500 credit agreement he had signed – and issued a default notice when he refused to comply. It led to the offshore surveyor from Aberdeen being put on a credit rating blacklist for several years, prompting his decision to take legal action.

He came off worst during years of wrangling before Scottish judges but was finally given satisfaction by the highest court in the land.

Justices agreed he had been entitled to rescind the credit agreement and had done so validly.

HFC had breached a ‘duty of care’, they added in their judgment.

Mr Durkin said he hoped the ruling would be for the ‘greater good’.

But he admitted he was unlikely to keep even the meagre sum he has been awarded.

‘I’ve got myself into a lot of debt, basically,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of expenses still to be distributed. Hopefully I’ll get something back, I’ve put about £250,000 into it.’